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216
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
'Your prenatal memory is lost. In your last incarnation while you were an elephant, you attained spiritual heights Now in human incarnation you, as a prince, opt for the dark forces It does not behove you
The chastisement stirred the mind of Meghkumar He introspected himself It was a curious jolt The shock was but necessary to metamorphose him The seers who have unravelled the secrets of consciousness resort to such means to give an impetus to the aspirant Meghkumar's mind was switched off the present No more was he conscious of what he had to submit to the Lord He was all keenness to know of his past The inner odyssey was begun The human mode was overridden by the elephantive mode
'Then, was I an elephant in my last birth, sir?'
'A flash-back will reveal to you that in the last incarnation but one you were an elephant, large and beautiful The jungle valley of Vaitadhya hill was your abode It was summer then The friction of tree-trunks caused forest-fire. Wind-blasts kindled it The trees fell one after the other The whole of the forest was one continuous flame All around there was smoke Wild beasts ran criss-cross You also rushed wildly with your herd However, you lagged behind the rest as you were old You lost your direction There you saw a lake You entered it to drink water It had more mud than water Before reaching the water you were caught up in the marshy bank You extended your trunk to take a draught but it fell short You struggled hard to get out but it further trapped you A young elephant of your group came around You had once hurt him with your tusks and expelled him from your herd It was vengeful to see you and wantonly hit you there You lasted for a miserable week You died to be born again as an elephant along the southern bank of the Ganges in the valley of Vindhyachal They named you Meruprabha
Once again forest-fires erupted You entered the deep forests with your group The sight of fire gave you tremors Your memory was revived into a flash-back You remembered
